Iroook a step back, his eyes fixed on the vilin in front of him. His mind reeled at the suddeion and the implications of her shift from versation to force. The only reason she would have said anything about such a gring weakness or feature of her person was if she fully inteo kill him. What was more jarring was the implication that she had been pletely forthing about her offer. She was fully willing to iate with people and pull them over to her side. Then why had she so brutally murdered that guy? He thought, gng at the glowing ball of light on her fiip. Priorities, Ironsides!

  He dove to the left as a narrow beam of white light erupted from her fiip. He whipped his head up and looked back over his shoulder, noting the perfectly circur hole that had bee in the door to the room. That wasn’t a warning shot. He looked up just in time to see her ing towards him, fist raised and glowing eyes burning with malice. He raised his arms up and tahe blow, the force spreading across his reinforced body and dispersing. It wasn’t an overly hard hit, but it definitely would have killed a normal person.

  Light based attacks, enharength, he memorized it, sweeping his foot out only to be surprised as she grabbed onto his wrist and threw herself up into the air like a gymnast, toes poio the low hanging ceiling. Her other hand slipped bad grabbed the handle of a knife she’d had strapped across her lower back. He pushed up, trying to catch her foot on the ceiling and throw her off of him but she merely did a split, pushing off of him and drawing the knife iion. He kicked off the ground and rolled past the corpse on the ground, getting to his feet and bringing up his fists. Enhanced reflexes, definitely.

  The supervilin nded on her hand and pushed up, throwing herself bato the air and into a somersault, her body spinning like a top as the glint of metal blurred in his vision. He brought his arms up again ahe bde graze against his skin, actually biting into flesh a little bit despite his reinfort. The on is made of post-pandora material. He thought as he wiaking aep back before responding with a haymaker towards her head. She spun out of the way and slid to a stop a few feet away, her shoulders rexing a bit as she tilted her head thoughtfully.

  He was slower than her, but his body was durable, he could tank the hits long enough for Martin to get here. Not that Martin will be much help, but at least he has the authority to call for help. Damn those Pandutions.

  “You’re pnning on deying me,” Ishtar said.

  “So?” He grunted, shifting a little to the left to get ready for a charge.

  “That’s cute,” She chuckled, “You want your dear friend Martin to see me? His obsession isn’t healthy, you know. It could eve you killed right here.”

  Ironsides frowned and ched his fists tighter, “A risk I’m willing to take. I won’t let you tinue what you’re doing, no matter the cost.”

  She raised her head a little, “A proper hero, then,” She said, “Apologies for not taking you seriously. I know very little about you so I assumed you were just anht-touched preferring to work for the ittee rather than face the true dangers of hero work. I was wrong.”

  His brow furrowed, “What does that mean?”

  She twirled the kween her fingers, “It means I’m going to treat this fight as oween a hero and a vilin,” She said and threw the k zipped through the air and he barely had an instant to respond before she was o him, driving her fist up and into his jaw. He felt his bones shift a little and his vision go white as he was carried up into the air with the uppercut. His reinforced body was the only reason his spine wasn’t ripped ht then and there. Something grabbed onto his ankle and the hing he knew he was crashing through the small wardrobe on one side of the room.

  The force of the impact forced his eyes open and his vision shook as he looked up at his ankle. She was still gripping it. That mog tilt to her head was gone. “What are you doing?” She demanded in her bloodthirsty rasp and held up her other hand, light f on her fiip again. “Fight back, hero!” She snarled as another bolt of light u him. He threw himself to the left and twisted with all his might, wreng his a of her grip and rolling across the ground. He bounced off the bed a few meters away and hurtled at her, fist outstretched.

  She stepped aside and baded him, sending a shock through his brain as he stumbled. He blinked only to have the air knocked out of him by a blow to the gut, his ribs shrieking with pain. He dropped to his knees as his legs lost strength for a moment and he felt her steel-like fiangle in his hair. She pulled him back to his feet. “Stand up,” She hissed and struck him again, sending him stumbling back towards the bed only for her to be there, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him up again, “I said, stand up!” She snarled and struck him across the face.

  She has too many powers, I ’t figure out what it is! He reached for her wrist and tried t his senses ba order, his head spinning but his spirit unwilling to bend to her ruthless assault. He ched down, squeezing with every ounce of strength he had and opened his eyes, looking bato the unfeeling gaze of her helmet. He spat on it. “Monster,” He snarled and swung his other arm, driving it into the side of her helmet. It didn’t even crabsp;

  She tilted her head a bit with the blow, looking away for a moment before looking back at him, “Better,” She hissed and shed out again.

  –

  The elevator didn’t work, none of them did. Everything was going wrong. Martin raced up the stairs with his gun in hand and his fingers pressed to his ear. “Ironsides! Ironsides! Damn it answer me! I told you not to engage!” He shouted into his earpiece as he rounded another flight a running, his legs pumping for all they were worth. He o get there faster, he had to get there faster. He was the only one who had the authority to call on the heroes and only with visual firmation. He knew he could throw his weight around a to happen anyway, but bending the rules, even once, even now, he k would set a pret that he couldn’t e back from.

  He grit his teeth a running. Hold on man, I’m ing.

  –

  Hyunh raced into the room, smming the door behind her. She k was a terrible idea to let Duong out of her sight right now but just sitting there as the panicked messages were ing in was only going to distract her further. She o know what was going on back at home. She quickly dialed the number and held her phone up to her ear, the ting over and over until it clicked over into voicemail. She hung up immediately with a curse and dialed another hen another, and another. It was the sixth person who answered, her younger cousin, Bian. “Bian! Bian! What’s going ohere?”

  “Cousin Hyunh? Oh thank goodness you’re okay I-” The teen started rambling.

  “Bian! Focus, tell me what is happening, is there ahere with you?” She asked urgently.

  Biaated then spoke, “Y-yes, Uncle Giang is here.”

  “Put him on, sweetie, please,” Hyunh urged her.

  “But-”

  “Please!”

  There was a moments pause and then she heard a wet cough through the phone. She winced before a tired voice spoke, “Little Hyunh.”

  “Uncle Giang, what is happening over there?” She asked.

  “Started this m, strange numbers in our financials, moarted disappearing. It kept getting worse, Hyunh, by the evening no matter what we did, we couldn’t get the d syndicate to stop heming,” He grunted, coughing again, “Then the kids started to disappear.” He coughed again, “After that, they showed up, those people with hoods and knives.”

  Hyunh’s heart ched in her chest, “Heming? People with hoods and knives?”

  “Yes, they’re killing everyone, men, women, any of the young people left like Bian, it doesn’t matter, it’s like the entire has a death mark on them,” Giang wheezed, “I barely made it out alive to a safe house with little Bian here.”

  Hyunh sank to her knees, “Did anyone else make it out?”

  “I don’t know, I-” The sound of a door opening with a bang echoed through the speaker on her phone followed by a scream and two gunshots. Silence followed that, only footsteps filling in the void.

  She stared at the ground in horror as the speaker rustled, someone ig up the phone. She jolted and looked up, “Bian? Giang?” She shouted, “Are you alright? Who was that? What happened?”

  “Feng Hyunh?” A gravelly voice said.

  Rage, grief, fusion and hate exploded in her mind, tears streaming down her face, “Who the hell are you people? What do you want? Why are you doing this?” She screamed.

  “I have a message from the Night Society,” The voice said, not eveing to her shrieking. Her entire body went still as numbness washed over her, “We have been ordered to extermihe Feng d Da Mao Syndicate, our orders are also to leave you as the sole survivor. From this moment forth, her anizatios. This is the decree of the Headmaster and of Mistress Ishtar. As of now, we sever our e to you and yanization. You may not call on us again. Goodbye, Feng Hyunh.”

  Click.

  Hyunh dropped the phone and tilted her eyes up towards the ceiling. “My god,” She breathed, her hands reag up, cupping over her mouth to restrain the ing scream as her entire world began to fall apart.

  –

  Ishtar threw Ironsides across the room again before taking a few steps and grabbing him by the shirt and pushing him up the wall to hang a head above her. His face was covered in blood and bruises, his metallic skin cracked and worn down by stant blows. She frowned a little beh her helmet, she hadn’t even had to push herself all that hard to deal with him. She had hoped his fidence was grounded in something, that she might even have to use uptime a little bit even if Sonya had warned her not to.

  Disappointing, she thought coldly, letting him go and watg him fall into a barely seated heap on the ground. She sehe signal trying to reach him, Martin trying over and over to tact him over the security el they shared. She almost felt a little guilty, it was one of Sonya’s suggestions during the formation of the current ination of the Pandora ittee that had created the shackles that Martin was dealing with now. She huffed and dismissed the momentary feeling, A wise man would not have taken my invitation. You were overfident, Ironsides.

  He tilted his head and looked up at her, grih in her dire.

  “Still alive?” She asked.

  “Fuck you, vilin,” He spat.

  She let out a sigh and poi his knee, releasing a beam of hard light that punctured his bone and ruihe limb. He let out a grunt of pain and threw his head back, seizing up a little as agony worked through him. “That wasn’t very polite,” She hissed, ting her head to the right. “Is that how you talk to someone who’s sideriing you live?”

  His lips curled back, “Why are you doing all this?” He snarled.

  “I already told you the ao that question,” She said with a sigh, “You are a really poor listener aren’t you? I told you to be more polite,” She bit out and ruined his other kh a bolt of hard light. She watched him writhe for a little while, disgust coiling in her guts. It was a shame, really, he had potential and a spine, but he had wasted his time pyiive rather than building up his powers and being someone who could actually put up a fight. He’d be useless iure, especially when the world ged once again. Although, perhaps this loss could motivate him to grow iure.

  “I have an offer for you,” She hissed.

  He narrowed his eyes in disgust, “I want nothing from you.”

  She held up a hand, “Hear me out,” She said, “You have two paths I offer you with a shake of the hand,” She began and held up one finger. “First, I heal ys and in exge you take your death like a hero after I have a versation with Martin in which you remain silent, you have an honorable end and I will tell him as much.”

  She held up the sed finger, “You agree o speak a word of what you learned about me, you gh your life knowing but uo tell the truth to anyone, not even Martin. But you get to live through this night and find some other way to try t me down.”

  She held out her hand again, “Which is it going to be, hero?”

  –

  The radio crackled back to life.

  “Ironsides!” Martin shouted as he ran up the stairs. He was almost there, just another floor to go.

  “He fought well,” A terrible hissing voice rasped through the radio.

  He nearly stumbled to a stop, his heart log up in his chest as his eyes went wide with panic, “Ishtar!” He shouted, “Where is Ironsides? What have you done?”

  “I’m about to kill him,” She said, her cruel voice remarkably soft despite her words.

  “Don’t! We talk about-” He started but he just heard her scoff over the radio.

  “Do us both a favor and stop,” She said, “You’re dish him. He fought well, I said, he will die a hero, on his own two feet, mighty for having sted as long as he did against me. Be proud of your friend.”

  “You!” He snarled, pig up his pace despite how much his muscles ached, he pulled out his phone and tapped in the emergency code, firming that Ishtar resent and the room number. He hit send and the message got stu sending.

  “Martin, I’m going to give you an offer, a prese in this room with your friend. I do hope you take it with you, I left a h it, just for you,” She said, “You send your cute little message now,” There ause, “He’s dead. Goodbye for now, Martin.”

  The blip of the message finally going through didn’t eveer as Martin stumbled oaircase and caught himself against the wall, breathing hard, all he could hear was static.